The Central Bank of Jamaica is releasing a new digital currency commonly known as Jam-Dex. 100,000 first users who belong to Jamaica will get a $16 payment for promoting the CBDC among the people.
This news was given by the Prime Minister of Jamaica, Andrew Holness, via Facebook on Thursday. The Facebook post faced both positive and negative comments as some people were glad that the country is finally adopting digital payment and the others believed that the Prime Minister was trying to bribe the people to for federal banking system.
Jamaica Introduces Jam-Dex
As per a report by the Jamaica Observer, 17% of the population still does not use banks which can be both expensive and lengthy procedure for poor people. Thus, with this incentive, the Government is hoping that poor middle-class people will invest in the national bank.
There was a pilot program going on for eight months on Jam-Dex and after its completion last year on 31st December, the BOJ announced its launch. It is also declared that pre-users of the bank will automatically get a digital wallet of Jam-Dex.
Nigel Clarke, the Finance Minister of Jamaica stated that Jam-Dex must be promoted and adopted by the majority of the population in order for its success. The Jam-Dex will probably be launched next month with a proper logo and tagline.
The Jam-Dex name faced a lot of criticisms in regard to aesthetic and technical reasons. The misnomer in the name of the currency was figured out by Twitter users as DEX simplifies decentralized exchange which is a medium for buying and selling cryptocurrencies. China was the first country who launched its own CBDC, known as the digital yuan.
The DCash was totally mired on 14th January due to a crash which resulted in all the banks staying quiet for some time. However, ECCB again declared that DCash will be made functional soon.
